The debate whether the copyright reform in a proposed shape would be beneficial for Europe or not is now a key topic for digital rights organisations. But what do measures suggested by the European Commission actually mean?

COMMUNIA and EDRi have jointly developed a guideline to the “legalese” of the draft directive. We present key issues and solutions that should be taken into consideration by the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who will soon discuss the proposal.

We believe that the current reform is a chance to empower users across Europe to access culture in ways that have been proved not to undermine authors’ revenues. This would boost the creation of new business models that will support authors, creators and journalists, and not only powerful intermediaries such as book publishers and record companies.

The copyright reform should also safeguard freedom of expression and privacy by curbing the surveillance capacity of filtering technologies. The Commission’s proposal fails to take advantage of these opportunities to secure a better future for Europe and European culture.

The guide prepared by COMMUNIA and EDRi explains concisely the core elements of the proposal, showcases where they go wrong, and suggests concrete solutions to fix these problems: